Recruitment Is Changing And So Should You
Rec2Rec — Helping UK & Irish Recruiters move to the USA, Australia & Asia.
With our consistent focus on improving our business Charlotte told me last month that we were booked into a Skype call with a “Growth Hacker/Marketer”. I dismissed her initially and said is that even a real job? I was fully expecting the overly familiar, buzz word centric cliché promising to 100x my growth through PPC and told her to close this guy out quick if he’s full of s**t.
What is growth marketing and how did you get into it?
Within 15 minutes of talking to us, Blake Moore, had quickly and effectively built rapport, asked inquisitive, smart and specific questions about our business and demonstrated that he could definitely add growth potential for us.
His follow up emails provided enough insight and value to take the relationship to the next stage and partner with us across our business streams. Needless to say I was impressed and when I asked him about his background before setting up his own marketing business it all made sense. Below is a brief interview with Blake Moore.
Growth marketing is all about experimenting across multiple marketing channels with the sole purpose of growing a business. Everything I do is data-driven and I implement automation whenever I can. If a tactic is growing our user base or increasing customers, I’ll double down on that. If something isn’t working we’ll move onto the next tactic.
Coming from an agency recruitment background, what key skills did you learn during that 18 months that you use now with your current business?
I previously spent 18 months as a digital recruiter in London and I headhunted a few growth hackers/marketers. I found the role interesting and thought I’d pursue it further down the line. I’m data-driven, analytical and inventive, so it suited me to a tee.
Fast forward a few months and I left recruitment to travel the world and work remotely. I was still working out how I was going to make it work but growth marketing kept popping up. Eventually I secured an apprenticeship with a growth hacker based out of Silicon Valley. He taught me the basics and I dove into any resources I could get my hands on. A few months in I secured clients of my own and the rest is history.
Transitioning from recruitment to growth marketing remotely, what do you miss?
As an agency recruiter I had to be inventive. Candidates and clients were being bombarded on a daily basis so I had to stand out. The business development skills I picked up have been invaluable. I’m always confident I can win clients and still appreciate it’s a numbers game. I bring this into the work I do for clients too. Sometimes those that aren’t sales-driven forget this is the case.
Knowing what you do now, what would you change about the way you approached building your desk whilst you were previously working in Recruitment?
Recruitment also taught me to be a consultant. I learnt how to ask thought-provoking questions and to listen more than you speak! When devising a growth strategy, understanding someone’s business is crucial. One size definitely does not fit all.
Growth teams are quickly becoming the norm in start-ups and big companies alike. Do you see this extending to the recruitment industry?
Tools mean that I can interact with the teams I work with from anywhere in the world but I will always miss the office banter. Sales environments keep you sharp and the pace is pretty addictive! I get some of it now with the fast paced startups I work with, but it takes a lot to beat the buzz of an office full of recruiters.
I was lucky. The company I joined guided me really well in building a profitable desk from the beginning. They matched me well with the clients I’d be working with and this gave me an edge. If I could go back now I’d invest in some tools to help me automate my desk. That way I’d have more time for closing deals.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced when transitioning your career and how did you overcome these?
Definitely! Most of the work recruitment businesses do can be automated. There are some amazing tools on the market that can automate a lot of what a recruiter does when picking up new clients and finding new candidates. Why do all of this manually when you could just set it on autopilot?
Additionally I think there is over-dependence on LinkedIn in the recruitment space. A growth marketer will help you explore other channels that will grow your business, instead of just relying on one platform.
It was tough starting again from the bottom. When I began picking up my own clients, I needed credible case studies but I didn’t really have any, so I got inventive. Firstly I built up my own side projects in the space I was looking to work in. Then I built traffic to them myself. Taking initiative always impresses.
As soon as I got in front of clients I also offered them free value. Being upfront about your tactics and offering some relevant strategy off the bat works well. I usually follow this with a trial proposal. This way you reduce the risk for both sides and give yourself a chance to smash any objectives you set.
Rec2Rec — Helping UK & Irish Recruiters move to the USA, Australia & Asia.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on October 3, 2016.
